Politics

34 year GOP rep loses to Tea Party candidate

In 2015, for the first time since the Japanese surrendered to Douglas MacArthur on the U.S.S. Missouri, there will be no World War II veterans in Congress.

With the loss of Rep. Ralph Hall, a 34-year-incumbent in his Republican primary runoff for Congress, "the Greatest Generation" is now officially no longer on Capitol Hill. Hall, a former Democrat who switched to the GOP in 2004, became a target of Tea Party affliated groups like Club for Growth and Senate Conservatives Fund after he was held under 50% in his March primary. With his defeat, Hall becomes the first incumbent to lose in the 2014 election cycle. But just as last Tuesday's primaries were not really a win for the Republican establishment as some maintained, Hall's loss isn't a win for the Tea Party either.